Maintenance release with various bug fixes.

* GTK UI + config: fix “custom server” setup (BMC #13511)

When the “default” config template (= ScheduleWorld) was downgraded to
“not consumer ready” in SyncEvolution 1.1.0.99.1, setting up a custom
SyncML service in the GTK UI stopped working because the UI wouldn’t
show the “not consumer ready” config.

The problem described above is deterministic and fixed now.
Initially the problem seemed to be random. So perhaps there is
also another, related issue.

• phone sync: delete<->delete conflict + phone calendar+todo sync (BMC #23744)

  When deleting an item on phone and locally, the next sync failed with
  ERROR messages about “object not found”. Retrying the sync then worked.

• Nokia: prevent accidental usage of “calendar” or “todo” sources

  Nokia phones use a combined “calendar+todo” source for syncing. The
  “calendar” and “todo” sources also exist because that is where local
  databases are configured.

  In such a setup, syncing always has to use “calendar+todo”. For example,
  to refresh from the Linux desktop to the phone, use:
  –sync refresh-from-server calendar+todo

  To work with items (restore, show local content), use the underlying sources,
  as in:
  –print-items calendar

  It was possible to accidentally sync with the “calendar”. This commit
  prevents that by adding an invalid URI setting to the “calendar” and
  “todo” sources in the Nokia and Ovi templates. Existing configs are not
  touched, so beware when you already have configured your Nokia phone.

• vCard: X- chat extensions were limited to one instance per kind

  For example, only one Jabber account could be synchronized. This
  was caused by an incomplete definition of the conversion to and from
  vCard.

• syncevo-dbus-server + phone sync: catch SIGPIPE to avoid premature exit

  Frederik Elwert reported that running a local sync with a phone via
  Bluetooth caused the syncevo-dbus-server to shut down during a sync.
  Explicitly telling the process to ignore the SIGPIPE signal solved that
  problem.

• syncevo-http-server: support chained SSL certificates

  So far, the file pointed to by –certificate-file had to
  contain the server certificated (signed by a CA known to the client)
  and (optionally) a client certificate. Now the file may also contain
  additional intermediate certificates which will be sent to the client
  (chained certificates).

• documentation: added glossary and command line conventions sections,
  improved listing of properties, embedd property definitions in man page,
  README and README.html

• EDS compatibility: fixed inconsistency in libecal check

  The check for the _r variants in libical still used an older max
  version. This might have prevented using them (if not found) or
  could have led to a mixture of old and new libecal in the same
  process (probably crashed).

• glib: avoid including glib/*.h headers directly

  Recent glib deprecates the direct inclusion of some of its headers,
  in favor of including glib.h. Doing that here whenever possible, so
  perhaps it now compiles on Fedora 17 (untested).

Upgrading from releases before 1.2

Old configurations can still be read. But writing, as it happens
during a sync, must migrate the configuration first. Release 1.2
automatically migrates configurations. The old configurations
will still be available (see “syncevolution –print-configs”) but must
be renamed manually to use them again under their original names with
older SyncEvolution releases.

Source, Installation, Further information

Source snapshots are in
http://downloads.syncevolution.org/syncevolution/sources

i386, lpia and amd64 binaries for Debian-based distributions are available via the “stable” syncevolution.org repository. Add the following entry to your /apt/source.list, then install “syncevolution-evolution”:

These binaries include the “sync-ui” GTK GUI and were compiled for Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy). Older distributions like Debian 4.0 (Etch) can no longer be supported with precompiled binaries because of missing libraries, but the source still compiles when not enabling the GUI (the default).

The same binaries are also available as .tar.gz and .rpm archives in the download directories. In contrast to 0.8.x archives, the 1.0 .tar.gz archives have to be unpacked and the content must be moved to /usr, because several files would not be found otherwise.

After installation, follow the getting started steps.

Mostly bug fixes again. Some are a bit more intrusive, thus another
pre-release.

Changes

• syncevolution.org binaries: now compatible with Debian Testing/libnotify.so.4 (BMC #22668)

  libnotify is not linked directly into syncevo-dbus-server in the
  syncevolution.org binaries. Instead libnotify.so.1 till .so.4
  (current Debian Testing) are opened opened dynamically and the
  necessary functions are looked up via dlsym(). Not finding the
  libraries or the functions silently disables this notification
  mechanism.

• calendar sync: better handling for add<->add conflicts (partly fixes BMC #22783)

  When both sides of a sync have added the same event, the sync must
  determine which one is more recent instead of blindly overwriting
  always the same side. Such conflicts are typically rare except for
  enterprise scenarios where meeting invitiations are processed
  automatically by a groupware (Exchange, Google Calendar/Mail, …)
  and then the attendee status is updated on one side.

  SyncEvolution now does the necessary age comparison and preserves the more
  recent data for most properties. In some properties the data from both
  sides is preserved by concatenating the text (description, location, …).
  It remains to be seen whether that is really desirable. Also, sync statistics
  are slightly off: the incoming item is counted as “added” even though it
  gets turned into an update.

• item operations: authentication problem for WebDAV when using keyring (BMC #21311)

  The password still wasn’t looked up in the keyring when using
  –import/export/delete-items.

• “databasePassword” source property: lookup failure in keyring (BMC #22937)

  The databasePassword also wasn’t looked up at all when doing item operations
  via the command line.

  When configuring sources for an HTTP server, the config name typically
  is just the context (@foo). When using the config in the HTTP server,
  the config name is the peer inside that context (client@foo). Because
  the GNOME keyring lookup keys for the “databasePassword” (more
  specifically, the object name) contained the full config name which
  was different in both cases, looking up the saved password failed.

  The solution is to normalize the config name (to accomodate for
  different ways of spelling it) and use only the context, with @ as
  before. This will break existing setups where the object name in the
  keyring (incorrectly) includes the full config name. In that case just
  configure the source again to set the password anew.

• Evolution Calendar: fixed detached recurrence support (BMC #22940)

  When manipulating a meeting series with more than one detached
  recurrence certain sequences of operations could incorrectly fail
  with “UID already exists”.

• iCalendar 2.0: must set VALUE in EXDATE (part of BMC #22940)

  EXDATE has a VALUE parameter, which wasn’t defined in the XML
  profile. Didn’t seem to matter at all in practice, but wasn’t
  standard-compliant.

• GTK sync-ui: wrap sync service descriptions (BMC #7199)

  Descriptions of different sync services are not fully visible unless
  word-wrapping gets enabled.

• source configs: don’t check “backend” unless it is needed

  When using a config which has sources with a backend type set which is
  not currently available, an error was thrown even if those sources
  weren’t even part of the current operation (for example, syncing
  another source which is currently supported).

• config migration: avoid name conflicts and auto syncing of old configs (BMC #22691)

  When (auto-)migrating a config, it was possible that a name for the
  peer, say foo.old, was chosen for the renamed config although there
  was already such a config, for example foo.old in ~/.sync4j. Besides
  being confusing for users, this also led to a bug in the code where it
  copied from the older config with the foo.old name.

  The main problem fixed is the disabling of auto syncing
  in the old config. Otherwise it was still used by syncevo-dbus-server
  for syncing, which triggered another auto-migration, ad infinitum…

• auto syncing: must check whether enabled when looking at unknown URLs (part of BMC #22691)

  “syncURL = insert your URL here” with “autoSync = 0″ did lead to auto
  sync attempts although it wasn’t enabled. A check for “auto syncing
  enabled” was missing for the “unknown transport” case.

• CalDAV/CardDAV + local storage: avoid empty properties

  The main motivation for this change is that a recent Apple Calendar
  server rejects vCards with empty BDAY property. Another reason is that
  keeping the data as small as possible is desirable by itself.

  Sending an empty property serves as a hint for the peer that the
  property is supported. This is not necessary when storing an item in a
  backend. Therefore this commit disables empty properties for all
  backends which do not themselves set the m_backendRule Synthesis info
  value.

• Apple CardDAV: apply PHOTO import/export scripts by default

  A recent Apple Calendar server (correctly) rejects the invalid
  PHOTO;TYPE=unknown: property in a vCard. This internal representation
  must be cleared before serializing the field list.

• for developers: modified backend API

  • ClientTestConfig modernized
  • InsertItemResult::m_merged turned from boolean to enum

• testing and compilation changes; for example, the minimum version of
  libsynthesis is now checked at configure time instead of failing at
  runtime due to missing features in the Synthesis engine

Source, Installation, Further information

Source snapshots are in
http://downloads.syncevolution.org/syncevolution/sources

i386 and amd64 binaries for Debian-based distributions are available via the “unstable” syncevolution.org repository. Add the following entry to your /apt/source.list, then install “syncevolution-evolution”:

Binaries for lpia will be made available again in the next release.

These binaries include the “sync-ui” GTK GUI and were compiled for Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy). Older distributions like Debian 4.0 (Etch) can no longer be supported with precompiled binaries because of missing libraries, but the source still compiles when not enabling the GUI (the default).

The same binaries are also available as .tar.gz and .rpm archives in http://downloads.syncevolution.org/syncevolution/evolution. In contrast to 0.8.x archives, the 1.0 .tar.gz archives have to be unpacked and the content must be moved to /usr, because several files would not be found otherwise.

After installation, follow the getting started steps.

Maintenance release, in particular improving syncing with phones.
There was a bug that could cause all kinds of weird behavior after
a failed sync with a phone, so updating is highly recommended.

Changes 1.1 -> 1.1.1

• Synthesis engine: fixed a corruption issue in internal meta data which
  caused duplicates and other problems in a pretty indeterminstic way;
  apparently caused by failed syncs (BMC #11044).

• Synthesis engine: recurrence rules with end date now sent correctly to phones (BMC #11241).

  The RRULE property was not encoded correctly previously during the
  iCalendar 2.0 -> vCalendar 1.0 conversion. Events with recurrence count
  were okay. Probably also affected SyncML servers without iCalendar 2.0
  support.

  The fix was confirmed to work with Nokia phones. It also helps with Sony Ericsson
  phones, but at least the t700 still has a problem: depending on the phone’s
  time zone, it repeats the event for one day too long (BMC #10092).

• Synthesis engine: fixed broken time zone information when sending to phone;
  previously that broke sending calendar updates to Nokia phones (BMC #9600).

  iCalendar 2.0 time zone definitions imported from libical were not
  encoded correctly in vCalendar 1.0 items as sent to phones. Nokia
  phones accepted such data when part of a new event, but rejected
  updates of it.

• Synthesis engine: shorter TZIDs, might help N900 calendar (BMC #6680).

  The shorter TZIDs will be included in iCalendar 2.0 data exported
  by libsyntesis and thus SyncEvolution. This change is motivated primarily
  by the observation that the N900 calendar storage can handle TZID=,
  but not TZID=/softwarestudio.org/Tzfile/.

• ScheduleWorld: disable configuration template because service has shut down.

  The template is only hidden from the GTK sync-ui, but remains in SyncEvolution
  for the time being because it is referenced in several places.

• Evolution CalDAV: added workaround for “must sync twice” (BMC #10265)

  The Evolution CalDAV backend seems to update its data when closing the
  database, not when opening it. As a result, syncevolution had to be run
  twice to see all data changes. The workaround is to open the database
  twice at the start of the sync. This is done for all calendar databases,
  regardless of which backend they use, in case that some other (yet unknown)
  backend needs the same workaround.

• GTK sync-ui: workaround for “Sync Now” button not reacting to online
  status changed (BMC #9949).

• Changed slow sync handling. Some users have complained about getting
  duplicated contacts (BMC #10081). The exact reason is not known (no
  useful logs provided yet), but it might be due to using “duplicate”
  as resolution strategy during slow syncs.

  This caused slightly different contacts to be duplicated instead of
  merging the two copies, reasoning that “no data loss” is better than
  “duplicates”. This release switches to a mode where the engine
  tries harder to avoid duplicates by merging data if modification
  time stamps are available for contacts (usually they are). When fields
  differ, the more recent data is kept.

• convert absolute alarm back to relative (BMC #11233)

  Experiments show that at least Nokia phones (and thus perhaps also
  Mobical.com) interpret a fixed alarm as “repeat alarm with the same
  relative offset as on first occurrence”. The same transformation to
  relative alarm times is applied whenever the transformation to
  absolute alarm is enabled for a peer.

• Sony Ericsson: enable conversion to absolute alarm times (BMC #10092)

  Like Nokia and Mobical.net, Sony Ericsson phones also seem to be unable
  to deal with relative alarm times – verified with t700.

• Sony Ericsson C510: workaround for SyncML violation

  The phone does not sent identifiers for the target database;
  using the source identifier as fallback allows a sync to
  run.

• Fixed a regression affecting users who had created a config
  with SyncEvolution < 1.0. Using the config worked once, then
  failed with “No configuration for … found”. Users must
  manually remove the empty “peers” directory inside their
  affected configuration, the fix only makes configs without that
  directory usable again (BMC #9381).

• Removed obsolete workaround for older mKCal calendar storage.

• Fixed error message in QtContacts backend.
• Same SYNCEVOLUTION_DEBUG code as in master branch.
• Some updates to synccompare, including a workaround for a Perl
  bug seen on Debian Testing with Perl 5.10.1-16 (Perl panic).
• Fix compilation of syncevo-dbus-server with libnotify 0.7.0 (BMC #10453).
• Fixed compilation on Debian GNU/Hurd (no MAX_PATH, Mac OS X confusion).

Source, Installation, Further information

Source snapshots are in
http://downloads.syncevolution.org/syncevolution/sources

i386, amd64 and lpia binaries for Debian-based distributions are available via the “stable” syncevolution.org repository. Add the following entry to your /apt/source.list, then install “syncevolution-evolution”:

These binaries include the “sync-ui” GTK GUI and were compiled for Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy). Older distributions like Debian 4.0 (Etch) can no longer be supported with precompiled binaries because of missing libraries, but the source still compiles when not enabling the GUI (the default).

The same binaries are also available as .tar.gz and .rpm archives in http://downloads.syncevolution.org/syncevolution/evolution. In contrast to 0.8.x archives, the 1.0 .tar.gz archives have to be unpacked and the content must be moved to /usr, because several files would not be found otherwise.

After installation, follow the getting started steps.

After several betas and lot of testing, it’s finally time to announce the end of the 1.0 development cycle: SyncEvolution 1.0 is released and replaces 0.9.2 as the stable version.

0.1 was released over four years ago. It has always bee part of the long-term vision to bring “personal SyncML” to desktops. Thanks to the Synthesis engine and Intel’s support for the project, this goal has been reached and this release really deserves the magic 1.0 label.

For those not familiar with the project, SyncEvolution synchronizes personal information management (PIM) data like contacts, calenders, tasks, and memos using the SyncML information synchronization standard. Up to and including 0.9.2, a third-party SyncML server was required. In 1.0, SyncEvolution itself is able to act as a SyncML server, both via HTTP and Bluetooth (direct sync with phones).

SyncEvolution 1.0

Major new features compared to previous stable release:

• synchronize directly with a phone over Bluetooth/OBEX
• accept Bluetooth/OBEX connections in cooperation with obexd >= 0.19
• run SyncEvolution as a rudimentary HTTP SyncML server

The GTK sync-UI can be used to select a paired phone and create a configuration for it based on the bundled configuration templates. Configuration templates are included for Nokia phones; for other phones see the HOWTO and check out the Wiki there. Some users have already reported success for Sony Ericsson phones and added setup instructions. New templates from the Wiki can be dropped into ~/.config/syncevolution-templates under an arbitrary file name.

Unexpected slow syncs can be detected when running as client (MB #2416) and unless turned off (see “preventSlowSync”), SyncEvolution aborts the session so that the situation can be analyzed. A refresh from client or server might be more suitable. The command line tool provides instructions at the end of its output. The GTK sync-UI points towards its recovery dialog.

Automatic synchronization is supported by the syncevo-dbus-server (MB #6378). When that is installed, it will be started as part of a user session and keep running to trigger syncs in the background. Notifications are emitted when syncs start, end or fail (MB #10000).

Automatic synchronization can be enabled separately for each peer (”autoSync=0/1″, off by default), will be done at regular intervals (”autoSyncInterval=30″ minutes) when online long enough (”autoSyncDelay=5″ minutes). That last option ensures that a) an automatic sync does not attempt to use a network connection unless it was already active and b) hopefully is also around long enough to complete the sync.

The Synthesis XML configuration was split up into different parts which are assembled from /usr/share/syncevolution/xml. Files in ~/.config/syncevolution-xml override and extend the default files, which my be useful when adding support for a new phone.

SyncML servers:

• ZYB.com now works thanks to a workaround for anchor handling (MB #2424); only contacts tested because everything else is considered legacy by ZYB.com
• Horde: avoid confusing the server with a deviceId that starts like the ones used in old Funambol clients, helps with calendar sync (MB #9347)
• Mobical.net (and other, similar services): fix vCalendar 1.0 alarm properties before importing them (MB #10458)
• desknow.com works when switching to SyncMLVersion = 1.1
• Funambol, Memotoo (and probably others): preserve meeting series when receiving update for detached recurrence (MBC #1916)

Evolution:

• calendar backend: minor fix for change tracking when deleting a single instance of a recurring event
• workaround for Evolution 2.30: “timezone cannot be retrieved because it doesn’t exist” is triggered incorrectly when importing non-standard timezone definitions because libecal changed an error code (MB #9820)

Performance and reliability improvements (MB #7708):

• synccompare much faster
• database dumps consume less disk space
• more intelligent about expiring obsolete session directories and backups
• database accesses are reduced in several backends
• shorter logs (MB #8092)
• message resending helps under unreliable network connectivity (”RetryInterval”)
• full support for suspend&resume in SyncEvolution client to SyncEvolution or Synthesis server syncs
• better handling of certain third-party time zone definitions (MBC #1332)

Improved GTK sync-UI:

• revised config screen: all in one list where entries can be expanded, integrated setup of sync with other devices
• recovery support: restore from backup, unexpected slow sync handling
• spinner while network is in use (MB #2229)
• interactive password requests (MB #6376)
• uses new D-Bus API

Command line:

• fixed printing of rejected items (MB #7755)
• consistent logging of added/updated/deleted items with short description
• improved error reporting (textual descriptions instead of plain error codes MB #2069, partial success MB #7755, record and show first ERROR encountered MB #7708)
• can create new sources (MB #8424)
• runs operations inside daemon and thus avoids conflicts with operations done by other clients; for testing purposes (like running a client which talks to a local server in the daemon) it is still possible to ignore the daemon (–daemon=no, MB #5043)
• revised README, now also available as man page (MBC #690)

Redesigned and reimplemented D-Bus API, used by sync-UI and command line:

• central syncevo-dbus-server controls configurations and sync sessions
• accepts incoming SyncML connection requests and messages received by independent transport stubs (obexd, HTTP server, …)
• can be used by multiple user interfaces at once
• fully documented, see src/dbus/interfaces and http://api.syncevolution.org
• no longer depends on dbus-glib with hand-written glue code for C++, instead uses gdbus plus automatic C++ binding generated via C++ templates

Revised configuration layout (MB #8048):

• several peer-independent sync and source properties are shared between multiple peers
• they can be accessed without selecting a specific peer, by using an empty config name or with the new “@” syntax
• user interface of command line unchanged
• old configurations can be read and written, without causing unwanted slow syncs when moving between stable and unstable SyncEvolution versions
• old configurations can be migrated with the “–migrate” command line switch; however, then older SyncEvolution can no longer access them and migrating more than one old configuration causes the second or later configuration to loose its “deviceId” property (which is shared now), causing a slow sync once
• config names may contain characters that are not allowed in the file names used for the underlying files; will be replaced with underscores automatically (MB #8350)

Upgrading from 0.9.x:

• Upgrading and downgrading should work seamlessly when using existing configurations.
• The new configuration layout is only used when creating new configurations or explicitly invoking “syncevolution –migrate” (see above). Such configs cannot be used by older SyncEvolution releases.
• The new “RetryInterval” property causes messages to be resent after 2 minutes (increased from 1 minute in previous 1.0 betas). At least the Funambol server is known to not handle this correctly in all cases. So in the Funambol config template the interval is set to zero, disabling the feature. Disabling the feature must be done manually in existing Funambol configurations.

SyncEvolution 1.0 beta 3 -> 1.0 final

Bug fixes and new features:

• Configuration templates are stored in a single file (MBC #1208). New templates (like something downloaded from the Wiki can be dropped into $HOME/.config/syncevolution-templates using an arbitrary file name.
• Progress and per-source status are now also reported and recorded when running in server mode (MBC #1359). There are still several limitations (sync mode not reported, no information about sent/received/processed items while the sync runs, see MBC #2786).
• Better handling of certain third-party time zone definitions (MBC #1332). Better logging to track down such problems.
• D-Bus server + command line: return error code when failed (MBC #2193)
• syncevo-phone-config: simplified command line options, several bug fixes (syntax error, incorrect handling of calendar+todo, MBC #1197)
• Revised README, now also available as man page (MBC #690). Conversion of D-Bus API documentation into .html page (MBC #1745).
• Funambol, Memotoo (and probably others): preserve meeting series when receiving update for detached recurrence (MBC #1916)
• Fix for potential out-of-bounds memory access (MBC #1007).
• HTTP server: fix for potential crash when second session was requested while an older one was still running, initial sync was done without libical time zone information and thus may have mismatched times (MBC #2435)
• Nokia E55: convert alarm times (MBC #1657). This is done via a new remote rule in /usr/share/syncevolution/xml/remoterules/server/46_E55.xml If another phone needs the same treatment, then copy that file to ~/.config/syncevolution-xml/remoterules/server and edit the element.
• GTK GUI: styling fix (MBC #1372), updated toolbar for MeeGo 1.0 (MBC #1970), avoid duplicating configs when selecting a config created by syncevo-phone-config or the command line (MBC #1266), scroll bars for emergency window (MBC #1296), avoid compile problem on Fedora Core 13 due to name collision with system sync() call, updated translations.

Known Issues

Compatibility with phones has not been tested as well as compatibility with the officially supported SyncML servers. Some issues have been reported which still need to be investigated:

• Nokia N85: ignores refresh-from-server? (MBC #2722)
• Sony Ericsson W595: All-day-events created in evolution are synchronized as all-day-events + 1 additional day in the mobile (MBC #2093)
• Nokia N81: Evolution contacts loose “Other” email-addresses when synced two-way (MBC #2566)
• Nokia phones: absolute alarm time? (MBC #1657)

Call for action: test with your phone and report which config works and how well synchronization works.

Other known issues:

• server progress events: no information about sync mode (MBC #2786)
• Calendar event alarm synchronization between N900 and Goosync (MBC #2764)

Source, Installation, Further information

Source snapshots are in
http://downloads.syncevolution.org/syncevolution/sources

i386, amd64 and lpia binaries of 1.0 for Debian-based distributions are available via the “stable” syncevolution.org repository. Add the following entry to your /apt/source.list, then install “syncevolution-evolution”:

These binaries include the “sync-ui” GTK GUI and were compiled for Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy). Older distributions like Debian 4.0 (Etch) can no longer be supported with precompiled binaries because of missing libraries, but the source still compiles when not enabling the GUI (the default).

The same binaries are also available as .tar.gz and .rpm archives in http://downloads.syncevolution.org/syncevolution/evolution. In contrast to 0.8.x archives, the 1.0 .tar.gz archives have to be unpacked and the content must be moved to /usr, because several files would not be found otherwise.

After installation, follow the getting started steps.